


Stardust and Carnage

by Doomkin



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars: Rebels
Genre: Action, Adventure, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst, Assassin/Bounty Hunter/Merc - Kal, B'ones, Dark Humor, Drama, Dum-Dum, Enemies to Friends to Lovers, F/F, No Skywalkers, Original Character(s), Original Story - Freeform, Parallel to Galactic Civil War, Planet Akiva, Planet Corellia, Post-Star Wars: The Clone Wars, Slightly Overpowered MC, Slow Burn, Star-Ship Pilot/Engineer - Tara, Tags May Change
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-04-22
Updated: 2017-09-21
Packaged: 2018-10-21 23:28:16
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 5,431
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10685103
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Doomkin/pseuds/Doomkin
Summary: Ta'rani 'Tara' Courwin, a human star-ship pilot with dreams of one day commanding a Super Star Destroyer across the galaxy is currently stuck at the imperial flight academy on Corellia trying to pass her final combat command exam when a routine day on base suddenly becomes a fight for her life against an apparent force of nature.. At least that's what she thought it was..Kalyn 'Kal' Merrik, a no-nonsense, get the job done and get out, assassin/bounty hunter/merc from Akiva is on a mission to sabotage a new imperial battle-cruiser or something (she doesn't really care what it is) and is almost done infiltrating the base when she is halted (yes, HALT!'ed) by a young woman who is so non-threatening that she hesitated to even stop.. Yet she did.. but why? Kal never stops until the mission is complete.. Why did she stop when this little woman said to?"Interestin'.." Kal mulls out loud. Just then a person came into view on her right, without turning her attention away from the young woman she lets loose a vibroknife with deadly accuracy hitting the stormtrooper that emerged center mass dropping him in an instant.*Gulp* 'What did I just do?' Tara thinks while backing away slowly..





	1. And so it begins...

**Author's Note:**

> First of all, first fic. Yup. Second of all, I'm not a huge fan of formal language in dialog, therefore, if it seems like some of my characters have speech impediments that is not my intention, instead, think of it more as a southern drawl using laid-back slanglish. I hail from the south, which is why Kal might seem like a southerner, but as the Doctor once said, "Lots of planets have a North." ipso facto Kal's from southern Akiva. Tara on the other hand I imagine is from a upper-east-side-esque Corellia, meaning a Manhattan-esque accent. 
> 
> Anyways, back to the odd dialog choice.. I like to write like I speak, meaning things like (meanin', doin', anythin') Hmm.. Maybe I just don't like G's. Ooh, but I do love me some contractions. "If it's bein' spoken by a character, I can assure you it'll be contracted." Though the drawl will only be Kal and maybe some fellow southern Akivanians. Who knows, I don't.. Not yet anyways.. :P
> 
> I'm not the most punctual person, therefore I won't hold myself to a definite schedule. I'm doing this more as a fun side hobby during lunch breaks at work and other random times throughout the day. That being said, if you enjoy it and want to continue reading it, simply bookmark it and the updates will show up whenever they get done and hopefully it'll be a pleasant surprise to brighten your day.. 
> 
> Now that all that's out of the way, enjoy, or don't. It's up to you. I know I will.
> 
> ~Doomy
> 
> P.S. Future notes should hopefully never be this long again. :D  
> P.S.2 This is set some time after the start of the Galactic Civil War, in canon terms, basically same time as Rebels. I could look that date up, buuuuut, Lazy. :P It'll probably come up in the story some time anyways..

Tara woke with a start, a blaring noise ringing in her ears. She swings blindly at the wall, desperately trying her best to hit the right command on the console to shut off her alarm. Struggling, she finally managed to hit the right one after a couple unsuccessful swings, the first missed swing activated the room's enviro-con system which quickly raised the temperature to a mild 78 degrees. Tara didn't bother to revert the change as it felt rather comfy compared to the chilly morning air from before. Her second swing powered on the Holonet terminal on the wall above her head which was preset to the Imperial News Network and a "Special message from the Emperor" began to fill the room with the Emperor's shrill voice. Tara shut off the terminal immediately, because though she was an Corellian Imperial Training Center cadet, she wasn't the biggest fan of the "Great" Emperor or the Empire as a whole, it was just a means to an end. Once the alarm stopped blaring, Tara took a moment to reorient herself with her surroundings.

She was in her standard CITC cadet quarters, a small bunk room with very few amenities, those few being a sink/mirror combo and a toilet in a small compartment on one side of the room, a single ceiling height locker and a small desk on the other, and her rather stiff single bunk bed opposite the door. Having sat up in her bunk, Tara looked around with blurry eyes prompting her to attempt to rub away the sleep. Unable to rid herself of the blurry vision, she stood on wobbly legs and waddled to the sink and turned on the tap. Upon seeing herself in the mirror, she realized she looked about as bad as she felt. Her shoulder length black hair was hanging all over the place, twisted in some areas, matted down in others, hell, some was even sticking straight up in the back.

*sigh*

"Why do I always get the worst training time slots? It's like Sergeant Lyntonn doesn't sleep at all.."

This makes the fifth morning in a row that Tara was assigned early morning training and the lack of a proper sleep cycle was beginning to get to her. She splashed some water on her face and checked her reflection once more. When she was relatively sure she didn't look as terrible as before, she went about tackling her rat's nest of a wake up hairdo. After fixing her hair into an imperial standard bun she went to her locker and took out her uniform. She changed into her thermal under-suit first, then pulled on her standard issue grey uniform pants. When she reached for her uniform shirt she paused to admire the metallic pins that signified her rank as a level 4 cadet pilot.

"I almost forgot! It's finally here, today I become an official level 5 pilot, no longer a cadet but a captain!"

"Captain.." Tara slowly, almost reverently repeated the word so she could take the time to really appreciate what that word meant for her and her future. Tara was born on Corellia, she grew up in the massive skyscrapers of Coronet City where everyday hundreds of ships would pass by her window. Small transport ships, military ships, even large freighters would streak through the sky right outside. When the Empire declared itself the new rulers of the galaxy and the Imperial Training Center was built just on the outskirts of Coronet City, Tara watched as new ships, the likes of which she'd never seen before, would launch themselves straight up faster than she could have imagined was even possible until they broke through the planet's atmosphere and disappeared into space. Ever since witnessing the awesome power of those ships breaking free from the planet, she made it her life's mission to one day break free herself and travel the stars untethered. Now here she was, one step away from achieving what she's always wanted. She smiled and rubbed her thumb affectionately across the pins.

"No more early mornings, no more Lyntonn, no more Corellian Imperial Training Academy. I'll finally be able to travel the galaxy as captain of my very own starship!"

*squeeeeeeee*

Tara pulled her uniform shirt on and quickly finished getting ready, now full of energy and excited to start her new life.

Tara left her room with her head held high and a pep in her step that had other recruits resenting her for her ability to seemingly enjoy functioning properly at 3am. She walked along the halls of the barracks making her way towards the mess hall for a bite to eat before she was due at the comms room for the morning brief. She arrived at the mess hall just in time to see Jel Felnyr, a mechanic that often worked on her training TIE. Jel wasn't much older than Tara, maybe 4 or 5 years at most but from Tara's experience, he is the best mechanic on base. When Tara first met Jel it was on her first day of flight training several months back and they quickly became friends when Tara was shocked to see Jel begin walking up the side of her TIE with no harness and no mag-lift in sight. It turns out that Jel was in an accident in which he lost his right leg, and his prosthetic was equipped with a magnetic locking system that allowed him to walk all over a starship without having to use any other equipment. This made him an especially effective mechanic. Tara waved at Jel and walked towards him where he was stood in front of the grain dispensary machine.  
  
"Good morning Jel, any trouble with Kelsa last night?" Tara asked with a smile that was too bright for how early it was in the morning.  
  
"Kelsa?" Jel asked as he cocked an eyebrow in confusion.  
  
"Oh, sorry, my TIE.. I named it.." Tara meekly replied.  
  
"Huh.." was all Jel said in response.  
  
"Yea, after my family's lothcat Kelsa. On account of the fact that both Kelsa and my TIE are the same colors, ya know? Or I guess you don't, I mean you've never seen Kelsa before so how could you.. I could show you a holopic of her. Wanna see?"  
  
"I'll pass, thanks.." Jel stated rather coldly. Tara suspected that it was the time as Jel was usually rather friendly and engaging.  
  
"Ok, well.. Umm.. Oh?! So, was anything wrong with my TIE after training yesterday? I know I was pushing her really hard, but for good reason! I was trying to perfect a maneuver that Lyntonn talked about in one of her lectures. The Maldun Launch. Ever heard of it?" Jel seemed to perk up when Tara said The Maldun Launch.  
  
"She's back in working order and ready for exercises. And yeah.. I've heard of it, real dangerous.. I suggest you try other moves, that one could get you killed Tara." Jel said then looked down at the counter, his eyes closing then reopening a few seconds later.  
  
"It doesn't seem too bad. It was kinda tricky at first and yeah I mean the first attempt was really scary, but I know how to do it. It's just a matter of making my TIE do what my brain is visualizing. I'm sure with a bit more practice I'll be able to master it."  
  
Jel looked up, right into Tara's eyes, his jaw set. "I'm being serious Tara, that move is too dangerous to even attempt again.. There was a trainee here a few years ago that was very much like you. He had a natural gift for flying, just like you. But he was headstrong, and cocky, and didn't know how to heed the warning of someone who knows what they're talking about. And Tara, I know what I'm talking about. If you keep trying that maneuver, eventually you'll wind up just like him." Jel said without ever looking away from Tara's eyes.  
  
"W-what happened to him?" Tara asked hesitantly.  
  
"..Let's just say he was nearly killed, lost a leg, and hasn't been behind the stick since. Nor will he ever." Jel just stared at Tara for a moment to make sure she understood before looking back at the counter.  
  
Tara blinked a few times as her mind processed what she had just heard. Slowly she placed a hand on his shoulder and squeezed lightly, "I'm so sorry Jel, I didn't know. I promise I won't try to do the Launch anymore."  
  
"It's alright Tara, I just don't want you getting hurt like me.." Jel breathed out.  
  
Tara removed her hand and pat Jel on the back and smiled once again, "So.. How about we meet for lunch later and talk about some other maneuvers I can practice that aren't as dangerous huh?"  
  
Jel turned to face her once again, this time with a small smile on his face, "Sounds like a plan. I'll see you later T." He turned, grabbed his breakfast and sat down at a table nearby.  
  
Tara took a moment to herself to contemplate joining him. Checking a monitor on the wall for the time, she decided she should probably go ahead and make her way to the comms room now rather than risk being late. She grabbed a few breakfast items that she could take mobile, and waved to Jel once more before turning and walking out of the mess hall in the direction of the comms room.

The walk to the Communication and Intelligence Operational Command Center or the Comms Room for short was a fairly long walk. A walk that Tara had to make everyday around the same time since arriving at the academy for the first years' admission briefing. The Comms Room was located at the end of a long corridor with supply rooms, offices, classrooms, and connections to other corridors leading to other areas of the academy. Most days Tara wouldn't even have to go down any other corridor as her classes were all located in one room and the only offices she ever visited were those of her flight instructors and Sergeant Lyntonn which were all located on or off this one corridor. Occasionally she would have to bring something to another classroom for her instructor or deliver intel briefings to the hangar bay for the higher ranking pilots that went on actual missions. But for the most part her days were spent in a classroom learning maneuvers, memorizing star charts, and learning rebel tactics and how best to combat them.  
  
As an aspiring frigate crewman, Tara was specially enrolled in some of the higher level academy courses that dealt with everyday operations of larger class starships ranging from large freighters all the way up to destroyers. And that's where she really wanted to be, not stuck in a tiny little TIE, but in a dreadnought class destroyer. Though she wasn't as ruthless or seemingly as hungry for power as most imperials, her ambition outweighed her conscience when it came to starships, as she would give anything to pilot one of those massive ships. Ever since seeing, hearing, and feeling the power of those off-world freighters with their 1st generation thrusters, all she wanted to do was be in control of that much power, in the physical sense of course. She couldn't care less about political or even personal power, she just wanted to rocket through the galaxy with the most powerful engine she could get behind her, and as far as she could tell the Empire was her only option to achieve that dream.  
  
Her favorite thing about the academy was the fact that she was able to log as many hours in her TIE as she wanted, at least during operational hours. She would spend hours and hours in that tiny little cockpit enjoying every second of it as she pushed the limits of not only the TIE but of herself, flying faster and farther each day. Most cadets weren't given the level of access to a TIE that she had, but that's because she was better than most cadets. Tara was whip smart, and naturally gifted when it comes to starships. The academy knew from her first flight out that she would be one of their most promising cadets, so they gave her every opportunity to excel, and excel she did. In fact, she excelled so quickly that she was flying through her courses at record speed and was on track to be the youngest captain in the academy's history. The long walk gave Tara time to contemplate the day ahead and plan accordingly for what she needed to accomplish. Today however, all she could think about was how close she was to graduating and officially becoming a captain.

She walked a little faster than usual this morning as she was brimming with energy, ready to speed through the day to get to the graduation ceremony in the afternoon. The corridor was usually fairly quiet around this time, but the air seemed to be abuzz with chatter coming from a hallway on the right. That hallway lead to maintenance and storage areas and a secure weapons cache at the end of the hall. When Tara came to the entrance of the hallway she saw a small group of maintenance workers and a campus guard standing outside one of the storage rooms. Tara, being ever curious decided to see what was going on. As she approached the group she overheard one of the workers telling the guard, "-like this when I got here for the morning shift, sir. The lock panel was busted and the door was slightly ajar. When I went to open the door to look inside, the damn mouse droid nearly gave me a heart attack as it came rolling out. Anyways, nothing seems to be missing or out of place, but protocol says I should call security just in case."  
  
"You did good, I'll have to report this to command," the guard responded. "as soon as I make a sweep inside for anything suspicious."  
  
"Morning Tara!" a voice from behind Tara startled her and she whipped around to see the girl who lived across the hall Keeli, a tall blonde cadet a few years older than Tara approaching her. "What's going on over there?"  
  
"Seems like someone broke into a storage room for some reason." Tara replied. "I have no idea why, it looks like it's just cleaning supplies."  
  
"Huh.. weird. Anyways, looking forward to the ceremony today?" Keeli said with a bright smile. "I can't wait for the party afterwards! It's going to be legendary!"  
  
"Hah, yeah. I still can't believe that I'm going to be a captain this afternoon, it hasn't really settled in yet I guess."  
  
"Nervous?" Keeli asked as she cocked her head to the side.  
  
"No, just.. anxious I guess. Becoming a captain is all I've ever wanted to be and it's finally happening, ya know?" Tara said while walking towards the main corridor with Keeli.  
  
"Well, I'll be in the crowd hootin' and hollerin' when they call your name. Oh, and don't forget to thank me in your speech, kiddo." Keeli nudged Tara in the arm and laughed.  
  
"I couldn't forget even if I wanted to, you've reminded me to thank you every day for the past week." Tara replied then laughed.  
  
The two of them continued walking down the main corridor together chatting about various goings-on around the base and their plans for the party until Keeli stopped to head towards her class. "Have fun today Cap! You deserve it!" Keeli hollered behind her as she ran towards her classroom. Tara could only smile at the thought as she continued on her way to the comms room.  
  
The rest of the walk, Tara's thoughts were filled with images of the ceremony, the party, and the traditional 'First Flight' which is where newly winged captains were given helm of a class 1 cruiser to take on an orbit run around the planet. She couldn't help the smile which appeared that seemed like it might be permanent at this point, it had been there so long.  
  
Suddenly Tara was pulled away from her thoughts by a thud sound that came from a hall she just passed. Once again, the ever curious cadet decided to investigate. She turned around and went towards the hall where the noise came from and peered around the corner. The hall was unusually dark so she could barely see past the first few sets of doors. As Tara stood there looking into the darkness there came another thudding noise. Finally she decided to see if she could find the source of the noise and began walking down the hallway. When she passed the second set of doors she heard another thud from her right, sounding as if it had come from behind the wall. Curious, she tried to open the door in front of her only for it to be locked.  
  
In that moment she heard a creak on her left from further down the hall and she whipped her head around in time to see a shadowy figure drop from the ceiling into the hallway. Tara froze for a moment and contemplated what to do. 'Could this be the person who broke into the storage room?' Tara thought. She removed her hand from the door panel and turned towards the figure which was now moving towards her slowly. Tara's heart was beating rapidly and her brow began to sweat like she was exercising. When the shadowy figure was only about 20 feet away, Tara made her decision. Even though her hands were shaking, she raised her right arm and yelled, "Halt!"The figure stopped as if stunned and shifted in place and cocked its head to the side as if sizing up Tara. "Identify yourself right now or I'll call security!" Tara said rather shakily with as much bravado as she could muster.  
  
The figure once again cocked its head and just looked at Tara for a moment longer. "I said, Ident-" Tara started, but the figure began to move again, startling Tara. It was walking towards her again and began to come out of the shadows into the light. Tara's stomach dropped when she immediately realized that the figure wasn't a member of the academy or staff. It was a woman with blazing red hair in a variety of braids and ties with streaks of black mixed in. Her face was smeared with black paint around her eyes and cheeks and half her face was covered with a respirator-like mask and there were splatters of red paint (at least she assumed it was paint) all over her face and mask with some on her neck as well. She was dressed in what looked to be black and brown tatters, but what was actually a covering of some sort. As Tara looked on frozen in place wide-eyed, the woman slowly approached and reached beneath her cloak and pulled out a small blade which Tara quickly realized was covered in a dark red liquid, 'Blood!' she screamed internally.  
  
*Gulp* 'What did I just do?!' Tara thought and began to back away slowly. Meanwhile, the woman steadily approached her with the blade at her side, dripping blood onto the floor leaving a gruesome trail behind her. Tara had managed to back out into the main corridor and just as she was about to turn and run, a voice boomed from her left. "Are you alright cadet?" Tara turned and breathed a sigh of relief, 'A trooper! I'm saved!'  
  
The trooper entered the opening of the hallway and turned to have a look at where Tara had come from. "What's goin-" he began but quickly froze as he spotted the woman down the hall. Immediately he reached for his blaster, but the woman was faster, having prepared to throw her vibroknife before he had even begun to talk. It struck him center mass in the chest and he dropped instantly, his blood from the wound adding to the blood on the knife. Tara's eyes went wide and she screamed and covered her mouth. This time however, she didn't freeze, instead she ran past his body as fast as she could and continued running until she made it to the comms room and never once looked behind her. When she reached the comms room, she pounded on the door panel until the door slid open and she rushed inside and began to fumble with the lock panel. Once she was sure it was locked she rested her forehead on the door and began to take large breathes to slow her pulse.  
  
"Cadet Courwin! What is the meaning of this intrusion!" Sergeant Lyntonn's voice echoed behind her and Tara momentarily chastised herself for not following protocol and knocking before entering, but she quickly remembered why she barged into the comms room in the first place.  
  
"There'sanintruderandshekilledatrooperandshewascomingformenextsoIranstraighthereto-" Tara rambled out so quickly Lyntonn just shook her head and grabbed Tara's shoulders to make her stop talking.  
  
"Stop! Say that again, but slower this time." Lyntonn said removing her hands from Tara.  
  
Tara took a long breathe before beginning again. "Sir, we have a BIG problem!"


	2. Interestin'

"Halt!" the lithe young woman yelled from down the corridor.  
  
'Halt? You've gotta be kiddin' me..' Yet, Kal had halted, but why? The young woman was hardly an intimidating figure, standing only around 5'2" at most, with a thin, almost wirey frame. Hardly even a challenge for Kal given her extensive combat skills. So why then did she freeze?  
  
"Interestin'.." Kal murmurs to herself.  
  
"Identify yourself right now or I'll call security!" the young woman continued, this time less confidently than before. 'She must be realizin' her mistake.'  
  
*Hmmph* Kal cocked her head to the side and contemplated the little woman.  
  
"I said, Ident-" the woman started, but Kal had decided to make her move and started walking towards the woman. Kal sauntered out of the shadows and reached beneath her cloak for her knife, unsheathing it and making sure the young woman got a good look at it, as it was soaked in the blood of the last few troopers she encountered on her way through the academy.  
  
The woman's eyes widened slightly and she began to back out of the corridor. Kal could tell she was getting ready to bolt out of there. 'That's right, you best be gettin' outta here 'fore I have to do something I'd rather not.' Kal continued to advance towards the woman whilst she steadily backed up towards the main hallway. The woman finally made it back into the main hallway but just as she began to turn and run, a voice from the right side of the hallway yelled out, "Are you alright cadet?"  
  
'Dammit' Kal thought, mentally smacking herself for wasting so much time trying to scare off some girl. Now she might just have to scar the poor girl.  
  
The young woman's face lit up like she was going to be saved from the evil intruder at last. 'Nope, not happenin'' Kal thought and smiled under her mask. The trooper finally came into Kal's view as he rounded the corner and turned to look down the corridor from where the young woman had emerged.  
  
"What's goin-" he began but quickly froze when he noticed Kal standing in the middle of the corridor menacingly holding a bloody knife staring daggers back at him. Kal switched her grip on the knife, preparing to throw. He reached for his blaster but Kal was faster, 'NOPE'. Kal's knife flew true and struck the trooper center mass in the weak spot between the heavy armor chest plates. Kal knew she had hit her target, a main artery, as his blood quickly began to add to the already soaked knife. 'Gotcha'' The trooper began to wobble as the young woman looked on in horror, he made a vain attempt to grab and remove the knife but it was too late and he dropped to the ground with a dull thud. His blood began to pool around him. 'And that makes 11..' Kal smiled as she mentally congratulated herself.  
  
The young woman's eyes went wider than before and she screamed whilst covering her mouth. 'Wow! Got a damn good set'a lungs on this one..' The woman, seeming to have gathered up a small amount of courage, sprinted past the dead trooper and off she went at full speed down the corridor. 'And she's fast too.. Reckon' she'd even outrun me..'  
  
After contemplating giving chase, Kal instead walked over to the trooper and retrieved her knife, leisurely wiping it down on her over-cloak to remove the blood, at this point there was too much for the knife to be useful without a little cleaning. She then snapped the troopers ID chip from his collar and placed it into the pouch on her hip. She looked down the hallway where she could still see the young woman running full steam. *Hmmm* "Until next time.." Kal remarked then turned and trotted back down the corridor.

Once back in the shadows, she hoisted herself into the vent she was previously attempting to gain access to. 'Now that that's over, back to business.' Kal pulled up her holo-map of the academy's facilities and accessed the ventilation schematics. She was currently located in the communications wing, approximately 500 feet away from her target, the research and development wing. Kal's mission was to acquire (steal) the plans for some top secret weapon-ship-thingy..  
  
Kal didn't care what it was, as long as she got paid for it, and she was going to make damn sure she got paid this time. She wasn't just going to let the Hutts slide and not pay her again. (Fool me once, Fool me twice and what not) Once she located the correct route to take, she closed her holo-map and began her trek through the vents. The vents were relatively cramped and Kal had to shimmy her way through them rather ungracefully. After shimmying for what felt like an hour, she checker her holo-map once again, sighing in relief when she saw that she was right outside her target. The target was inside a sealed lab that was ventilated separately from the rest of the base, so she was done in the vents for now. She positioned herself at the closest grate to the lab door and scanned the surrounding corridor for movement. Noting nothing of interest, she began to remove the grate's fasteners. Just as Kal was about to remove the last bolt, she heard radio chatter to her right. Kal immediately settled and held the grate closed and awaited the incoming group.  
  
'Dammit, nothin's ever easy eh?' Kal griped to herself and replaced one of the bolts in the grate so she could let go of it. Just then, a group of three light armored storm troopers came into view and stopped in front of the lab door. 'Oh you've gotta be shittin' me' Kal thought that perhaps the young woman had reached security and they had called for a lock-down. If so, things would get a lot more interesting. Kal contemplated her options, 1) Full frontal assault (Take her chances with three light troopers) 2) Find another way into the lab (Time consuming but not impossible, more like improbable under a lock-down) and 3) Cut her losses and bail (Fuck the Hutts right?) After a minute of weighing the pros and cons, Kal decides that option one is always more fun and retrieves a smoke grenade from her backpack.  
  
'Go time!' Kal kicks out the grate and tosses the smoke grenade out at the same time. The troopers are startled by the noise and confused by the sudden black smoke filling the hallway. One trooper calls for the other two to hold the door while he investigates. 'Wrong move bub' Kal who by this time had already dropped out of the vent and settled against the wall opposite the lab door pulled on her electro-magnetic goggles and turned them on. Suddenly what was before a wall of black smoke became a crystal clear view of the troopers' armor electronics, essentially making them blind sitting ducks for Kal to pick off. The smoke was the perfect ploy as these were light troopers, meaning no advanced viewfinder filters, IE no EM filter. As the trooper who gave the order began to enter the smoke, he turned on his helmet light to no avail. Kal maneuvered her way around him, being careful not to make a sound as she moved.  
  
Once behind him, she pulled out one of her daggers and lined it up to strike at his carotid artery. With a single swift motion, Kal rendered the trooper both mute and drowning in his own blood. The other two troopers began to grow anxious as they called out for their fellow trooper, and upon hearing no response only a muffled gurgle and the sound of armor scraping along the metallic floor, they decided to move in. (Wrong move again boys) Kal seeing her opportunity to get into the lab, made her way past the two troopers who were now inside the smoke cloud. She reached the door and placed a lock descrambler on the keypad, beginning the process of unlocking the door. Having set the device about opening the door, Kal turned her attention back to the the two aimless troopers inside the smoke. Grinning, Kal hatched a cleverly devious plan to remove two annoyances with one move. She walked back into the smoke and waited for the two troopers to create a bit of space between themselves, when Kal crouched in between the two and rather halfheartedly poked the two in the sides with her knives. Wincing in pain, the two troopers whipped around in the direction of the attack and almost simultaneously fired their blasters. Kal's plan worked perfectly as the troopers peppered one another with blaster fire while Kal sat back and watched. The firing stopped as both troopers dropped to the ground felled by friendly fire.

Kal laughed for a moment then returned to the mission. When she arrived back at the door, the descrambler had finished unlocking the door and she opened it and stepped inside. The lab was very sterile looking with only a few tables scattered throughout, no chairs, and computer terminals lining two of the four walls. Kal runs over to one of the terminals and begins to look for her target. After searching through most of the terminal's database she comes across the file name she was looking for - :OBSIDIAN:. "This must be it, time to bail." Kal muttered and plugged her Holo into the terminal to download the file. The file finished downloading and Kal turned to leave when she noticed something hanging on one of the walls of the lab. A sword, unlike any she'd ever seen before, made of what looked like some sort of solid black metal with very faint streaks of silver running the entire length of the blade. 'There's no way I'm not stealing that..' Kal took the sword off the wall and sheathed it beneath her pack and made for the door.  
  
Once in the hallway, she checked her Holo to find her escape route, noting that the vents would no longer be a viable option. Her new route would take her down the corridor to her right 200 feet ending up in the main hangar where she would commandeer a ship and fly off-base to where her own ship is waiting. After confirming her route, she began her run down the corridor, at which point an alarm began to sound throughout the base. 'Fuck, that can't be good.' Indeed it wasn't as a voice over the intercom boomed out, "This is Captain Lyntonn, all hands high alert we have an intruder on base, I repeat- we have an intruder on base. Intruder is armed and dangerous, lethal force is authorized."  
  
"Yep, definitely not good.." Kal growled as she rounded the last corner leading directly into the main hangar and saw what was waiting for her. In front of Kal was what seemed to be a full squad of light and heavy armor storm troopers, which luckily were currently facing the opposite direction so she quickly ducked behind a cargo container. She sat for a moment and once again contemplated her options, and once again decided as she pulled out her blaster...

"One's always more fun!"

**Author's Note:**

> Writing style note:  
> "---" = Audible Speech  
> *---* = Physical Expression (i.e. Sighs, Gulps, etc.)  
> '---' = Internal thoughts
> 
> Questions, Comments, Concerns? Let me know below!
> 
> ~Doomy
> 
> PICTURES! Yay!
> 
> Tara's Full Imperial Flight Suit - http://vignette4.wikia.nocookie.net/swg/images/7/70/Imperial-life-support-flight-suit.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20100305050815


End file.
